Why would she have planned the second flip as a double in her FP at Worlds? That wouldn't make any sense. She performed 6 triples including two 3flips just before Worlds at Challenge Cup 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbFWbiEGO5Q, probably to try out the new jump layout as she had been doing a different one all season long.

She is listed under the entries for Challenge Cup 2013 by the way. If she really competes there I guess this is the place for her to try out her new jump layout for worlds (if she plans to change it).

Maybe this one: 3Lz/2A/3F+3T/3F+2T/3S+2T+2Lo/3S? It would be amazing (and no-one would say that she doesn't deserve the titles she wins!)

I would like to hear some opinions whether Sot is back as a major contender. She struggled most of last year, had a lackluster GP season this year, didn't make the GP final, didn't win Russian nationals like she usually does, and suddenly at Europeans is within a point of Kostner. Is she back as a major contender for the podium at Worlds, Sochi?

Kostner is in control of her own destiny at Worlds. She should be able to hold off Adelina and Liza if she goes clean, even though they have superior jump layouts. She'll make up points in spinning and expected PCS. I'm guessing the WC judges will not grant as much of a PCS discrepancy between Kostner and the Russians as was at Euros.

Suzuki definitely has a chance to beat Kostner. If you add their best international SP+FS this season, Kostner has the edge by about 3 points, but that is with an arguably inflated score at Europeans. I think the bronze will actually be battled for by Suzuki, Kostner, and maybe Wagner if she gets it together.

That being said, I can picture a clean Sotnikova/Liza taking the bronze, but they will require others to falter.

Kostner needs to worry about Yu Na (right now a definite favourite) and Mao (who, like Kostner, still garners high scores even with errors).

Kostner shouldn't be able to make up point on Sotnikova in spinning, because Sotnikova is 2x the spinner than Kostner could ever hope to be. In PCS, yes, maybe, but Kostner tends to telegraph her harder jumps (Lutz and Flip, for example) while skaters like Sotnikova have transitions into those harder jumps. She has no reliable 3/3, unlike the Russians.

What Sotnikova lacks is consistency. She didn't fall at Euros, but she still popped that flip (which cost her the win) and those are the types of errors that make it easier for the judges to justify placing a veteran over a newbie at major competitions. Kostner can spin better than Tuktamysheva, but Eliza is 5x the jumper Kostner is and it will really depend on whether she can get through the short program without an error, IRT how well she is positioned going into the FS.

The PCS inflation that goes on can only be justified to a certain extent. So far the judges have been able to justify it with the errors competitors have been making in the ssame competition (Asada's win at NHK), but if the field is relatively clean and consistent it will be hard to place Kostner over the Russians, nevermind her tactic is working against her since it is forcing the judges to throw high scores out to technically inferior programs - similar to what happened in 2009-10 with the men when the quad was an endangered species.

This is a nonsense. She won her GPF gold medal fair and square with a totally superior and fantastic performance. She didn't land 7 triples, right, but who really did? Don't tell me that Michelle Kwan did, because firstly you need to apply the same logic to her performances that you apply when it comes to Mao. Don't take into account Michelle's both flutzes and underrotated jumps and you are left with 3 CLAEN triples in her glorious SOTBS from 2001 Worlds. Mao's skate from GPF was absolutely sensational performance-wise and I have already provided you with numerous reasons for her high PCS scores.

Well, there are many who thought Slutskaya should have won that worlds (and the Olympics, definitely given Sarah Hughe's inability to rotate even half of her jumps fully), so many could care less how well Michelle Kwan "appeared" to skate at 2001 Worlds.

Part of the reason why Michelle Kwan won was the same reasons people are using to justify Asada and Kostner's wins.

I think people are losing sight of the fact that figure skating actually IS a sport. And for that, I've had a change of heart in the past weeks/months of reading this stuff.

I hope the IJS starts rewarding jumps more, adding bonuses to 3/3 combinations, etc. It will combat the PCS inflation of veteran skaters (and National champions of influential nations) and reward those who are pushing the envelop in a more sports[wo]manlike way.

Kim will beat Asada in PCS and Kostner will atleast match her, so if Mao comes out doing only 3 or 4 clean triples she will get her butt kicked. She is not going to be able to rely on some big PCS edge to overcome technical inferiority vs those two like she does vs say Suzuki, not a chance. Even the Russians with their recent improvement, and Wagner if she works her butt off after an embarassing last 2 free skates, will beat her if she continues with what she has done this season so far.